Rise Records

Out yesterday, Good Excuses is the debut album from Dallas born Blindwish. Taking influences from the likes of Taking Back Sunday and Neck Deep, the group is sure to make an impact relatively quickly. Songs on Good Excuses seem to come paired by genre, with a break in the middle, which is a different structure for most listeners, but it does not detract from the overall experience.

Opening Good Excuses is debut single After Midnight, which captures the post punk essence of the group. Following is Bittersweet, a more riff based track, but with a less solid chorus when compared to After Midnight. However listeners will be able to relate to the lyrics, particularly in the bridge; ‘Different day, same old shit’. The post punk element rushes back in Infected, with influences such Thirty Seconds To Mars heavily present in the verses, however the chorus returns to more of a Taking Back Sunday feel.

Rise Records, who Blindwish are signed to, have provided the best in terms of production, as the group sound epic. The balance and spacing of each instrument and the vocals is just right. The evolution of the album throughout each track is also planned carefully and executed through both musical performance and technical production. The heavier elements begin with Single Words, and spill over to Cold Shoulders, which incorporates heavy riffs and distorted guitars, whilst still maintaining balance and space in the mix.

The softest track, Down, is placed in the middle of the album to juxtapose the heavier tracks preceding it. Using acoustic guitars and strings to bulk out the sound, the softer vocals have a lot of empty space to suddenly fill, but the track sounds great. Another surprise acoustic track comes in later on with The Maze, which is more reminiscent of the likes of Neck Deep, but Blindwish have a stronger vocalist.

They’re Not Real is the catchiest track on the album and would make a good choice for the next single, as the catchy chorus is easy to sing along to. The multitracked vocals on the chorus make the listener feel like they are in a crowd singing along. Echo is the final track on the album, beginning with autotune and a number of other effects as an introduction, and recurring throughout the track on the ‘let it go’ parts.

Overall Good Excuses is a stunning example of how varied the post punk genre can really be, with influences that range across the board. Blindwish are a great band for listeners just getting into the post punk genre, as well as enjoyable for those who are already huge fans. The biggest standout track is Down, as it will speak to quite a few fans of different genres.

Rise Records‘ own PVRIS have just released their fourth single from upcoming album All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell. Following in the path laid by Half, What’s Wrong and Heaven, Winter is available as a digital download, check out this link to grab a physical pre-order. Check out Winter below:

It’s pretty safe to say Rise Records have had a couple of huge weeks these last couple of weeks with quality and quantity both breaking out of its roster.

First up is The Gospel Youth who released their stunning new album on the 14th July – their debut on Rise as well as their first full length. Always Lose comes as a follow-up to the twelve crowdfunded singles in twelve months that made the group their name, becoming renowned as the up-and-coming British rock band with their honest lyrics and catchy hooks. In addition to the whole album, they’ve released a video for the track Your Love Was A Cancer which was filmed on this year’s Vans Warped Tour. The band are currently still out on the road for another couple of weeks on that run until it closes on 6th August.

Goldfinger have made a monumental comeback with their first album in nine years titled The Knife which was released yesterday. Since 2008’s Hello Destiny, the band have been working on songs to supply other artists as well as frontman John Feldmann’s infamous production work for the likes of 5 Seconds of Summer and Black Veil Brides. The new album itself features appearances from Mighty Mighty Boss Tones guitarist Nate Albert and a near-whole album performance from blink-182‘s Travis Barker on drums amongst others, and was released on Rise yesterday (21st July). The latest single from the album is called Put The Knife Away which easily demonstrates how Goldfinger have grown since that last album with huge gang vocals and a more poppy feel throughout that almost verges on blink-182 sounds.

Silverstein released a brand new album on the 14th July through Rise as well, titled Dead Reflection which comes 17 years into their veteran career. Latest single Mirror Box was also put out at the same time, a song which demonstrates the band’s melodies while remaining heavy in many ways. Silverstein will be on tour in North America, UK and EU for the rest of the year so check out dates here.

Palisades have released a new music video, this time for their song Better Chemicals. It features on their self-titled third album which was released on the label earlier this year. The band are currently on tour with Japan’s ONE OK ROCK in the US, and will be returning to the UK in August for the annual Reading & Leeds festival.

Australia’s own Make Them Suffer are headed to the UK this October with Novelists and Cursed Earth. The band have announced this ahead of their July 28th release of Worlds Apart which will be released via Rise Records. Pick up a pre-order at the Rise Recordsstore. They’ve also released a new single off of the upcoming album, titled Uncharted, check it out below:

“Worlds Apart represents a new era for Make Them Suffer, we’ve taken risks in songwriting and production; this album is a reminder to ourselves that change and growth are good things. It’s tough to say so early, but I think Worlds Apart is an album that will be in your stereo for quite some time.” – Sean Harmanis, vocals

From their upcoming album All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell, PVRIS have dropped their newest music video for the track Half. This is their third single off of the new album; What’s Wrong and Heaven offered the first glimpses of their new offerings and their upcoming album looks set to take them to greater heights than their debut White Noise. Check out the new video and their upcoming EU tour below:

Rhode Island’s own pop punkers MAKEOUT have signed to Rise Records, having already toured with the likes of Blink-182 and Goldfinger, they are set to release their debut EP The Good Life, due out 29th September. Check out their brand new track Crazy below, balloon anyone?

“The record sounds like a party, there are so many different influences touching it… That’s the kind of party we like!” – Sam Boxold, vocals

In the run up to the release of their second album All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell, alternative rockers PVRIS have released their second single What’s Wrong from the album. Pre-orders for the album available from this link. Currently on tour with Muse and Thirty Seconds To Mars, the band will head over for a Europe/UK tour later this year:FULL EU/UK DATES BELOW

2nd November – Theaterfabrik Munich

3rd November – Dynamo Zurich

4th November – Magazzini Generali Milan

6th November – Flex Vienna

7th November – Lucerna Music Bar Prague

8th November – Huxleys Berlin

9th November – Docks Hamburg

11th November – Pumpehuset Copenhagen

12th November – Fryhuset Stockholm

13th November – Rockefeller Oslo

15th November – Live Music Hall Cologne

16th November – Den Atelier Luxembourg

17th November – Tivoli Ronda Utrecht

18th November – Elysee Montmartre Paris

19th November – Trix Antwerp

22nd November – o2 Academy Bristol

23rd November – o2 Academy Birmingham

24th November – The Academy Dublin

25th November – Mandela Hall Belfast

27th November – o2 Academy Glasgow

28th November – Apollo Manchester

30th November – o2 Brixton Academy London

*A portion of every ticket sold will be donated to The Ally Coalition in support of LGBTQ equality. Tickets available from PVRIS.com

Colliding By Design opens with Diagram of a Simple Man, a track which brings an indie feel to the album from the off. A 4-note vocal melody rings out in the first verse which demonstrates classic indie style, and the effects on the guitars in the intro play to the genre fully. The guitars almost verge on an early Coldplay-esque feel as they play sliding leads throughout, but the song sets the tone for the rest of the album to follow. The title track comes next, which is an indie pop sound with copious volumes of tambourine which adds to the depth to an extent but the whole track doesn’t build much and it seems to end having gone nowhere extravagant.

The middle of the album seems to pass by tracks with no standouts until Goodbye, the fifth track on Collide By Design. The song holds a more funky drumbeat throughout and while the vocals here are all layered and well-crafted as elsewhere, the guitar solo is what differentiates this track. Its flare and confident style play over the drums and bass, which also happen to be some of the best parts on the album for both. Through the first two verses, the song builds to a chorus that holds some punch which remains to the end.

Fire and Rain is another track which has good promise, but just as the track starts to build to something exciting it breaks back down again. The dynamic between the louder sections and the quieter ones demonstrates the skill of the band as a whole, but the holding back sums up Colliding By Design well – close to something special yet lacking that fundamental “wow factor” to tip it over the edge.

Overall, an album that would provide good background music for documentaries and films yet as calm as it is this leads to a fairly bland piece in total. While there is some variation throughout, the songs sound largely the same and although this can be seen as a positive in some instances, this album lacks the substance needed for quality to be recreated. Not a bad album for a band who had nine years out of the game, but Colliding By Design is most definitely not Acceptance‘s strongest material.

A congratulations is in order for Thousand Below who have just signed to Rise Records and are looking to make 2017 a great year for themselves. Amongst this they have release a new single and music video for ‘Tradition‘ which you can check out below!